The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1887-12-13
THE REAL AND TnEr1pEAI.
The Blending OF the Two Great
divisions OF Modern
@ Fiction.

Justin Mccarthy, NJ. p, has given
The Birkbeck Institute lecture on
s'Modern Fiction, y III It's two great
divisions Of. the real and The ideal,
claiming that the two must be blended
In every true work Of art. A great
many years ago, ,he said, when he was
beginning his literary career in London,
he used to come downAt river as far
as Blackftiars Bridge at all seasons and
in all weathers, and he never came
near to the bridge without observing
the magnificent dome Of ST., Paul's.
lie would go into one of the inches and
lose himselfsin the singular beauty OF
the noble dome, rising out OF the mist
or gilded by the sunlight. It was
always beautiful and always touching,
no matter what the weather might he.
seen dimly shining through fog or mist
IL mad q certain charm, because it SEEM
ed to; be like some building in q distant
phantom city Of which you could only
imagine dim outline. When he look
ed around him and saw the hurrying
crowds Of people and heard the noise,
the tumult, the yincessant tramping, the
constant talk Of the passers-by, it SEEM
sd to him a sort OF, poetic duty to lift
himself, for few moments at least.
: out OF the commonplace OF life and
have sort Of communion with that
ideal world which was floating high
above him. The object Of his discourse
was to discuss the Two points sof view
from which such q picture could be
looked at; to consider wliether, the real
anu ideal object ought to be brought
into juxtaposition or TO be compared
anu contrasted with each other to make
true picture, whethertin life or in art.
The very dome Of st. Panl's would not
be SO beautiful were'it not for the bust
ling crowd below nor would the crowd
seem so real Without the calm dome
above. . iis.
III English literature there is q col.-
slant rotation OF the ideal and the real,
one generation running wild after the
ideal ideal and the next generation taking, ND
the most absolute realism. When
Bulwer in his ideal fiction made men
and women talk the most magnificent
language inlthe course Of daily lie q
reaction necessarily followed, Ind
Dickens came to the london Of hhe
poor'and madesit hisfbusiness ia Study
s the lives of the const,onraace an,oAs
them and to idealize those as well as he
could consistently with realism. He
made q fairy tale of London poverty
by inYentihg a kind of happy land in
which deserving poverty always found
its reward, while the wrong-doer was
invariably punished. After Bulwer's
extrayagant idealism and Dickens ex-
,trayagant realism, 1t was time to take
up the phase Of London life which
neither Of these had touched, ana the
idea suggested itself to Tlackeray.
lie saw q world in the West End;
people with petty troubles and emotions
to-daf which are only u memory to-
morrow. AS the tendency Of each kind
Of fiction Is to find imitation before re.
action, Dickens and Thackeray found Il
host Of imitators. One of these, An
thony Trollope, followed Thackeray, but
in 81 fashion distinctly his own, discard
ing all Thackeray's romantic feeling
and pathos. The next development
was the sensational story, with its mur.
dcrs, mysteries and fearful disclosures.
Some Of these novels were written after
the manner Of cOnundrums, and they
left the reader no time in which to take
breath to criticise or to make observa-
tions. Then people became disposed
for a sudden and new departure, and
the school represented by Mr.. Howells
and Mr.. James came to us from Amer
lea. Their aim Is to make story in
teresting out Of materials entirely with.
out interest to charm or fascinate the
unwilling reader. With the next reac-
ton arose a kind Of imagination the
like Of which had not been seen before,
and Mr. Haggard's "King solomon's
Mines" "She," etc., arc the result.
In all works Of fiction 1t is impossible
to discern where tho real and the ideal
begin and end; everywhere they are
blended. Striking examples are to be
found in 'Don Quixote.o Again,
Scott furnishes his humorous pictures
Of, life and caricature, bold and daring
adventures and thrilling tragedy. He
has idealized by the touch Of sympathy
and genius the humble life Of the com
monest people. And 1T is SO with the
novels of realism, such as those of
Fielding and Mr.. Howells. Mr.. George
Meredith, who has only lately come
into his fame, has wrought together
the ideal and the real perfectly. Tho
French realistic school of Zolo Mr.. Nc
Carthy declined to discuss, because it
would not, he said, deeply influence our
literature or our social life, it being no
more realism, In the true sense, than
any other class of fiction.
-----------r-7--<s 81 s------7-.,r----+~
One Of the French societies in the
interest Of the industrial classes has rec~
commended the suppressions OF oil cir.
cular saws in workshops, where prac.
: u, tEtf,n %otv